Thursday, April 28, 2011

Happy Spring and Update!

Okay, so it's been months since my last post...I am bad! Between moving across the country (CA to TX), being pregnant and the holidays, I let the blog slide.

So, the health news I alluded to in a previous post was my pregnancy. I found out in September that I was pregnant and was thrilled, but cautious as well. I had miscarried three times before, twice after my first daughter and once after my second daughter. At about six weeks, I started bleeding and basically assumed the worst. After all, I had been through all this before. I went to the doctor and had to wait another week for an ultrasound since it was still so early in the pregnancy. That week was agonizingly long! Finally we went in for the ultrasound and the tech was able to confirm that there was an empty pregnancy sac so I had more than likely miscarried. However, right next to the empty black sac was another one with a heartbeat! I had been pregnant with twins and miscarried one, but not the other. Twins do run in my family and the same thing happened to my older sister several years ago, so this wasn't a huge surprise to me. I was so excited to still be pregnant!

Of course, once I was pregnant, it was time for my husband to get a job transfer. You see, that's how we roll in our family...last time we moved when I was 7-1/2 months along. At least this time I was a little earlier in my pregnancy at roughly three months. We were in limbo for about a month between Christmas vacation and not being moved into our new home yet, but it went by quickly and we finally got settled in. We found out in early February that we are having another girl, which is what I wanted. For some reason, people always assume you want whatever gender child you don't have, but I love my girls and am so excited to be having another!

So, these past couple weeks I have been busy trying to make fun things for this baby (we are still trying to finalize a name). I made a nursing cover for myself, a baby crib coin quilt from Verna charm squares using a tutorial from the Moda Bakeshop website and my next project is going to be a car seat canopy. I am getting big and uncomfortable, but I know that babies are MUCH easier to take care of in the womb than once they are born!

Verna Charm Baby Coin Quilt:





This was my first time trying out free motion quilting. I just did a basic stipple pattern. However, it was rather nerve-wracking having it be on something so special! I loved both the process and the final results, especially once it got washed. Who doesn't love a cuddly, crinkly quilt?!?



I also made a Toy Story flannel blankie for my 2-year-old. She is obsessed with Toy Story. Unfortunately, it's hard to find Toy Story items for girls, so I decided to make her one instead. Joann's didn't have any pink Toy Story fabric, so I had to go with blue and green.

She loves her Toy Story "gee":



Edited to add: I just entered my charm quilt into a contest. If you get a chance before Sunday night, May 1st to vote for me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Here is the link:

http://quiltinggallery.com/2011/04/29/vote-now-quilts-charms/
Mine is the last entry, entitled "Verna Charm Baby Coin Quilt." Thanks

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Giveaway!

There is a great giveaway going on right now at retromummy. Head on over to enter to win 14 fat quarters from the Sweet Broderie line. Here's a link:

http://retromummy.blogspot.com/2010/11/sweet-broderie-giveaway.html
Good luck!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Hello and Happy Fall!

I haven't posted in awhile because I have not worked on any quilt projects this month. However, I've been working on some other fun things. I have some friends who were/are expecting babies soon and I made a couple nursing covers for them using this tutorial:

http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-to-make-nursing-cover.html

Here is a picture of the first one I made but I forgot to take a picture of the second one before I mailed it off to Texas. It uses boning at the top so the mother can see her baby as she nurses.



I also have been cutting felt like crazy for Thursday night. We are having an Autumn social for the women at church and having dinner along with doing some crafts for fun and service. We are making crayon rolls for the children at the Ronald McDonald house using this tutorial:

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/08/06/felt-crayon-roll/



I already made one (but haven't loaded a picture to my computer yet - the above pic is copied from the skiptomylou blog) and it was easy to make and turned out really cute. I loaded up on Crayola crayons when they were on sale at Target for 25 cents a box around back to school time.

I have other health news possibly forthcoming (if it's good, maybe even if it's not so good). Keep your fingers crossed for me as my doctor's appointment is next Monday.

Thank you to my followers - it's nice to have you join me and not be alone in Blogland anymore!! :)

Sincerely,
Elizabeth

Monday, September 6, 2010

Baby Quilt





I just finished a baby quilt for a friend who is having a baby girl in a couple months. I love the Hushabye line by Tula Pink and used a charm pack and some coordinating fabric to make this quilt. I made the binding with the pink/brown bunny damask from the Hushabye line.

My 6-year-old daughter had a friend over a few days ago when I was working on it. Her friend told me she really liked the quilt I was making and then asked, "When I have a baby, will you be dead?" I laughed and told her probably not. Then she asked if I would make a quilt for her baby when she has one. Now that's a compliment!!

Quilt #2

After making my first quilt and giving it away as a Christmas present, I went to work on another quilt. This one was going to be for my husband. I again used a Moda layer cake (Tranquility by Sandy Gervais), but this time did it in disappearing nine patch blocks. This time I branched out and made my own coordinating bias binding. Here are some pics.




My First Quilt


This is the first quilt I made. I used a Louisa layer cake from Moda and kept it simple. I quilted "in the ditch" once it had been pieced and used pre-made quilt binding.

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my new blog! In this blog I will be posting about the quilts I make, fabric, inspiration, etc. I made my first quilt in December of 2009 and was instantly hooked. Since then, I have completed two more quilts and have two more in progress.